Jake and Evan Rouse are full of passion, and not just about beer.
The brothers, who are CEO and Head Brewer of Braxton Brewing Company, won’t just be serving high-quality beers when the microbrew on 7th Street in Covington opens soon – they have announced the tap room will open March 27. They will also be actively serving the community in any way they can.
“There is a renaissance happening in Covington,” said Jake. “We’d rather Braxton be a part of it than sit on the sidelines.”
Jake’s background is in the technology sector, while Evan has been brewing beer for seven years – the two previous to Braxton’s founding at the Hofbrauhaus. The brothers combined to take a unique look at beer’s function in society, and extrapolated that to a vision of what a 21st century pub should be.
“Beer is the first social network,” said Jake. “Look how it’s packaged, in six- or 12-packs. It’s meant to be shared. We believe that tech has yet to touch the beer experience.”
Among ways Braxton will incorporate technology is with the internet speeds visitors will be able to access. There will also be power sources available throughout the taproom, supporting everything from Apple products to Android phones to laptops.
“We support entrepreneurs coming in and using the bar as a workspace in the mornings before we are serving beer, once we are open,” Jake said. There will also be a state of the art special events room with a glass back to show off the brewery. That room will have modular seating and a projector, so it can be configured for a variety of uses. There will also be a garage door in the room, a tip of the hat the brothers’ home brewing roots.
“This is really here for the community,” Jake said. “We want people here using the space.”
At the heart of any brewery is, of course, the beer. The brothers’ enthusiasm for their product bubbles up in their voices like the carbonation in a pilsner.
“Hofbrauhaus showed me consistency,” said Evan. “What I get to do now is take that consistency and do more styles. We are aiming for multiplicity.” He added that the projection for styles of beer on tap at opening is four, although the list was not finalized at the time of this interview, with plans to eventually get to 20 different styles.
“We are going to launch with four beers, one of which is extremely unique and the other three no one else brews in this area. Two of those will be core beers we hope to keep all the time,” Evan said. “Craft beer fans will appreciate them, and craft beer newbies will be able to have a good starting point.”
Two of those beers have been announced. The first is a golden cream ale, called Storm. That style has deep roots in the area, having been produced by local brewery Schoenling, and later Hudepohl-Schoenling, since 1958. The second is a hoppy wheat ale named Jumper. That style will be unique to this region.
The brothers also believe that they can win any beer drinker over.
“We believe there is a beer for everyone,” Jake said.
“With an open mind and 15 minutes, we can find a beer for you,” said Evan. “We are going with approachable styles.”
Central to the success of Braxton is the area. Greater Cincinnati has a strong brewing tradition that has experienced its own renaissance in the past decade with microbrews popping up across the region. This has benefited the Rouses, in their words.
“It is remarkable what a collaborative industry this is,” Jake said.
“The guys at Mad Tree are awesome, Rhinegeist, Ei8ht Ball, Hofbrauhaus, obviously, have all been awesome,” Evan said. “They all step up and help anyway they can. It’s competition, but it’s friendly competition.”
Braxton used Kickstarter as a way to incorporate technology last winter, and also gave the community a sense of ownership in the brewery. They became the most successful brewery project the website had ever seen, and broke the record for single day contributions at $27,000.
“It was humbling, to say the least,” Jake said.
The next step, with the date to be determined, is opening doors to the public. Once the beer is flowing, Braxton will be available all over the region, as a distribution deal with Stagnaro has been reached.
After that, plans include a mobile app will help Braxton aficionados locate the beer and learn more about what is brewing.
“We’ve been working toward this for over a year,” said Jake. “It’s a culmination of amazing brewing combined with some people with a tech background.”
The love of beer and community added into that was left unspoken, but understood.